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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Lentils and Drumsticks

October is coming to an end... which means its Halloween time...

While everyone is busy cooking, baking... setting the mood for Trick or Treat , I am falling behind and unable to keep up with the theme.... due to a very busy schedule... I have nothing to offer ... sadly.. but I have a story to tell...

Have you heard of Moringa Oleifera? It is commonly known as Indian drumstick and Malays (from Kedah) would call this... Kacang Munggai.

Just imagine if you grow Moringa Oleifera in your backyard... It will not only gives you, your nutritional benefits, purify your water, it can also protect you from evil spell. And that is why... it is called ~ Tree of Life, or in East Africa... it is called "Mothers' best friend". The benefits are endless... you can Google 'Moringa Oleifera' and read about it.

I would like to add another one to that numerous list... with the story I am about to tell...

As a young girl... I would sit quietly and listen to adults talking and exchanging their hair raising, supernatural, ghostly stories... it scared the s**t out of me... nevertheless I was drawn to their stories.... just like a magnet...

One of the stories would be about 'Orang Minyak' (direct translation would be theOily Man ) a movie was made, back in 1956 based on this story/myth

I would refer him as The Cursed Man'... his body would be covered, in what the adult would say ..black oil (hence the name). Apparently, he wanted to learn about the spritual world... malice intended. He sold his soul to the devil. In exchange... and to achieve his supernatural powers... he has to de-flower 40 young maiden virgins within a week...

Once the word was out that The Cursed Man is on the prowl... villagers would be on alert and wary of their surroundings. Chaotic time...Men would patrol the village perimeters, hoping to catch the culprit...However The Cursed Man managed to slip into the night unnoticed...

And Mothers would try their best to protect their young girls "innocence" by making the daughters wear their fathers' sweaty shirt at night... giving the impression that they were men instead of young girls...
During this terrifying moments ... parents would be 'frantically' looking for Moringa Oleifera trees... A foot long Moringa Oleifera sticks were given to these young girls, and to be placed under their pillow at night...
The foot long Moringa Oleifera stick has the same effect as garlic had on Dracula... The Cursed Man would stay away... as he was afraid, very afraid... One hit with the stick, his supernatural power would diminished and he'd immediately transformed into a powerless man...

Just imagine the worried look on my parents' face... everytime they hear the news that The Cursed Man is on the prowl again... for they have 4 daughters...

Happy Halloween

Care to share your scary childhood stories with me?

I found frozen packets of Drumsticks in an Indian grocer... and decided to cook a simple dhal and serve with roti.

Oh my goodness... Those horror stories we used to grow up listening to in Malaysia are the WORST!! Makes all the "Western" ghosts sound like nothing especially when you have movies such as "Casper the friendly ghost" hahaha...

But yeah, I'm not scared of ghosts in Aus, but in Malaysia I went through a very scared of ghosts phase. The stories back home are too real and confronting and there's so many of these to be afraid of, it's the worst. I don't want to go into details, but I've had encounter with a "pontianak" whether you believe it or not, I started praying so much after that I was so scared haha...

ANYWAY, I really, really love dhal so thanks for the recipe! *chills* haha

Hi Lisa, you story remind me of those day when I was still young, staying near the kampong and the graveyard is just 500 meter away. Those makcik use to tell us the orang minyak story, it did give us goose bump. But me & the neighbors kids also very naughty, we use to play hide and seek at the graveyard never give second thought " what if the ghost appear" hahaha

Roti, lentils and drumsticks...what else to ask for:). As for spooky tales...my granny used to have a 'pantang' of us mentioning smelling frangipanis at night in case this attracts the hantus. Not so practical esp when there was a frangipani tree close to our house...

I always love reading your posts, because I always learn something new :) I've always seen Moringa Oleifer around, but never knew they were called that! and i heard about the orang minyak story too hehehehe

I think Asian ghost stories are somewhat scarier for some reason. Halloween can be scary but there are lots of cute stuff. But not in Asia... I love your recipe - looks so yummy. I want to dip the chapati in the sauce... YUM!

I did not realize there is a ghost story related to the drumsticks. I managed to find some fresh ones from the Indian grocery store not too long ago and cooked them with shrimp. They were expensive but such a treat! Yours with dhal and roti looks delicious!